When this movie was first advertised I didn’t think much of it – just another lame kids movie trying to appeal to dragon lovers while taking advantage of the 3-D craze. Then I got a look at the main dragon starring in this movie – not a cliché red or green, goofy-looking dragon – a cat-like, ferocious-looking black dragon! This movie looked hopeful. But I decided as I researched it that I would approach it as the most critical version of myself that I know – Kid Ben.
(Now for some background on my childhood psychology.)
As a child I loved dragons. I had a fixation on dragons. And I thoroughly hated nearly every movie to feature a dragon, because the dragon would always get killed by the self-righteous “heroes”. Whether in movies or TV shows, I hated every lead character I ever saw – with very few exceptions. I saw these people murder innocent dragons just for glory’s sake – and it angered me to no end!
As a child I always connected better with animal characters than humans, and I even hated some animal characters if they possessed too many human traits (such as clothing or the ability to speak).
As I learned more about the film I realized, “Wait, there’s also humans in the movie. – It’ll probably still suck.” Then I realized all the humans in the movie are Vikings – which were the only type of human I liked as a kid because they’re always so…not like most people. So it still seemed hopeful. Then I got a look at the main human character…and lost all hope.
When I finally saw this movie it was a total surprise to me. I loved the main dragon, of course. I thought the name the main character gave it was lame and meaningless – who would have a pet Night Fury and name it “Toothless”? (I understand the name makes more sense in the book – but events are different in the movie). Unfortunately the Night Fury is one of the few types of dragons in this movie that isn’t goofy-looking – the rest are all a bit too cartoony for my taste.
I loved the community of Vikings. Kid Ben would’ve totally had the hots for Astrid. The flight and battle sequences were awesome. And Hiccup (the main character) totally redeemed himself by the end. (Spoiler Alert) Being the only Viking in a community of dragon-killers to not want to kill a dragon brought him from being just weak in my eyes to being tolerable. But by the end of the movie he goes through such a heavy change in character that even Kid Ben would’ve found him unique enough to be relatable – and respectable. (Spoiler Ended)
This movie made me want to get into the lore of this land and the creatures living in it. Dragon fans finally have a movie that actually understands and delivers what they want to see in a dragon movie.
Spectacular!
Benjamin T. Collier's Blog 
Thank you!
Nobody believes me when I tell them that this movie is worth the watch. Though to be fair, The only reason I saw this movie is because the one I had originally planned to go see was sold out. I’m sure that I would have eventually taken a stab at watching it but the fact that I went in not really expecting much and walked out impressed by this film, made it that much better.
I know exactly what you mean!
This movie shares an ailment with other great, well-written, recent movies – which is that it’s name tells you that it’s only for pre-school kids who don’t know any better. But it’s based on a book by that title so they’re stuck with that name.
I’m thinking of one movie in particular but I don’t even want to mention it by name because it’s such a terrible name and I never would’ve seen this movie aside from very specific events beyond my control. – But maybe I’ll do a post on it later so I have the chance to explain myself. 🙂
LOL, is there a majin Ben, and a Super Ben as well?
There’s a Super Ben (Gohan Absorbed). – But he’d approve anything.
I agree with almost everything… though the voice actor (of the main character only) inhibited me from enjoying it a fair bit for two reasons: 1. I dislike the actor 2. he was the only one without an accent, which makes so little sense it makes my brain hurt @.@
Lol. Good point. I picked up on that too but I guess I got used to it. I figured it was one more way that the creators emphasized the fact that Hiccup didn’t fit in with his own culture at all. His presentation was the main thing that kept me cautious as I went into this movie.